Category Archives: Reblog

Unless you have been living under a rock, you now know that yesterday SpaceX accomplished something spectacular. That being the launch and partially successful landing of the Falcon Heavy boosters and the delivery of “Starman” in Elon Musk’s vintage cherry red Tesla Roadster. Both side boosters landed successfully back at the Cape as shown below. Unfortunately the core section failed to initiate the final landing burn and crashed next to the recovery drone ship. YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter are replete with coverage and discussion.

I have selected a few choice (short) videos below for your enjoyments.

Note that even though the bottom videos from the returning side boosters shown above are supposed to be from each individual booster, someone goofed and we see the same video stream displayed on the left and right. SpaceX corrected this with a later video, but that is not currently available on YouTube.

Below is one of the better spectator videos of the landings. (There are many)

The image below is a screen capture from one the videos in the previous post on today’s SpaceX CRS-10 launch.

Life comes full circle. In a much earlier post I described what it was like to be standing at the water’s edge in the foreground at the last ever Saturn V launch.

The Saturn V F1 engines were the most powerful rocket engines ever made. Each one produced over 1.5 million pounds of thrust. The five F1 engines on the Saturn V made it the most powerful launch vehicle ever at over 7.6 million pounds of thrust. Just over forty years ago on May 14, 1973 [almost 44 years as of this writing], I was lucky enough to be among the press and dignitaries sitting on the bleachers or standing in front of the turning basin at the Launch Complex 39 Press Site for the last ever Saturn V launch. I was 19 years old. My best friend’s aunt was a professional photographer. She got each of us a press pass for the launch of the Skylab space station. For a teenage space fan, who had watched every manned launch since Alan Shepard’s first suborbital Mercury launch, this was truly “dying and going to heaven”. For several days before the launch we got to go on exclusive tours of the launch site. We were able to see Walter Cronkite’s broadcast booth. NASA loaded us up with press packets and thick tomes of specifications. I can not begin to tell you how totally cool this was.

On launch day I was one of the throng of people standing to the left of the countdown clock in the picture above.

I was just three miles away from the launch pad. When the engines fired up, the sound of the F1 engines was felt as much as heard. The low base rumbling seemed to reach directly into my chest and vibrate my heart and lungs [dare I say it was nearly orgasmic?]. As the Saturn V rose into the sky, I could smell the burned kerosene of the exhaust as I felt the waves of warm air wafting over me.

This was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The SpaceX image inspired me to search the Internet and YouTube for Skylab launch images. I scored big time. The second image is screen shot from the video below. Back in the day I had a fetish for white jeans (probably expressing my inner John Lennon). Trust me – I am in there somewhere.

How many nuclear devices has humanity detonated since the first one at Trinity New Mexico?

I’ll give you a hint …

1 – Trinity NM
2 – Hiroshima
3 – Nagasaki
4 – that one in the Pacific
10 – a few more in the Pacific (Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands)
50 – a bunch at the US Nevada Test Site
100? 200? 500? (All of the testing by all of the nations)
1091?

I started writing this four years ago when Zombie Apocalypse stories, TV shows, and movies were all the rage. The first post was in July of 2013, titled Day 42. The final post of the Day 42 series occurred in January of 2014 titled Day 53. After some consideration, I realized that Day 42 was too vague and decided to re-post as The Nudist War which was a better, more descriptive title. I reworked each of the chapters, adding additional flourishes and expanding on the plot. Individual chapters were titled TNW – Day xx.

TNW – Day 56 was originally posted in mid-2014. For various personal reasons the story has been on hiatus since the original TNW – Day 56 was published.

I began work on TNW – Day 57 a few days ago after re-reading the entire series. I soon realized that the content I had written had actually occurred on Day 56, so I merged the old TNW – Day 56 with the new Day 57 material. I posted the new and expanded TNW – Day 56 earlier today. It is my intention to continue adding to The Nudist War on a semi-regular basis. I have already written portions of the ending chapters. Now I need to get from here to there.

If you are new to this blog and unfamiliar with The Nudist War, you can start at the beginning by simply reading on below. If you are a long time follower you might still want to start at the beginning to refresh your memories of the story line.

Zombie Apocalypse stories aren’t for everyone, but I think you will find that this is not your typical Zombie Apocalypse story. Give it a chance. I have also written several short stories that you can find under the Fiction tab. If you like Sci-Fi with a twist, you might enjoy these as well.

So without further ado, I give you The Nudist War…

• • •

Originally posted January 2014 …

This is the beginning of a serialized novel. I hope you like it. Portions of The Nudist War were previously published as the Day 42 series.

All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.

The Nudist War

Would real Zombies wear clothes? The answer could go either way. But depending on the circumstances surrounding the Zombification, the answer could very easily be no. If the Zombification occurred to a hospitalized subject after a period of illness, the subject would be wearing at most a hospital gown. Anyone who has worn a hospital gown knows how easily they fall off. If the subject turned at home, they might be wearing little or no clothing. Either way, once an item of clothing fell off … or was ripped off … it is unlikely that it would be replaced. It is even possible that a newly turned Zombie would preferentially rip it’s clothes off because they were foreign and unnatural.

The incidents below really happened. A quick internet search will readily confirm this. Might this not give us an inkling of how the Zombie Apocalypse begins?

• • •

Miami, FL May 26, 2012

A naked man was shot and killed by police after attacking a homeless man; chewing off most of his face, his nose, and one of his eyes. Dubbed the ‘Miami Zombie’ and the ‘Causeway Cannibal’ he sparked a local concern that the Zombie Apocalypse was at hand. This prompted the CDC to release a statement downplaying the reality of any Zombie Apocalypse and any connection to the ‘Miami Cannibal’.

~ CBS News Miami, 5/26/2012

• • •

Delray Beach, FL February 4, 2014

A crazed, naked man with “superhuman strength” was shot and killed by a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s sergeant after attacking several people including a retired NYPD officer, a 16-year-old female, and an 18-year-old male. The 18-year-old male, who was protecting his 16-year-old sister, suffered bite marks on his face and a lacerated ear.